Ozon in Laishevo takes off without waiting for guarantees under SZPK

Ozon has settled in Stolbishche

The construction of a modern Ozon warehouse complex worth 2 billion rubles has been completed on the territory of the new In Park — Kazan logopark in the village of Stolbishche, Laishevsky district. The Russian marketplace opened an entry for the supply of goods from sellers on November 15 and began accepting their deliveries on November 18. In fact, it has been fully operational since 20 November. As follows from the company's message, the logistics complex in Laishevo is designed to handle bulky goods, and from November 21, orders from the centre will be sent to the first customers.

“We see how the number of our buyers and sellers in the Republic of Tatarstan is growing rapidly, and therefore we are expanding the infrastructure in the region," Ruslan Eminov, the director of logistics at Ozon, is quoted in the message.

The logistics complex will carry out a full cycle of order processing — from receiving goods to packaging parcels. The capacity of the facility is about 60,000 square metres.

How Khanin from Laishevo “cuts into” Zelenodolsk

The Ozon Fulfillment Centre in Laishevo is the third in Tatarstan and the 44th in Russia and the CIS countries, and Alexander Khanin's international concern DoorHan has become its new partner in expanding its presence in the country's regions. As Yulai Minnullin, the deputy for GR of the management company In Park — Kazan PLC, told Realnoe Vremya, the warehouse complex for Ozon was built on time — by the end of November this year. The developer's investments amounted to about 2 billion rubles. At the same time, they used metal structures produced at the DoorHan plant in Tatarstan. According to him, the total area of the first warehouse complex was 50,000-60,000 square metres. In total, nine buildings are planned to be built on the territory of the logopark, he said.

Additionally, an 8-hectare land plot is planned for the construction of a rotational camp, comprising dormitories for workers and infrastructure for residents, according to the documentation. The developer is going to invest 16.3 billion rubles in the mini-town. The construction and commissioning of the facilities is planned to be completed within three years, by the end of 2026.

Romex has opened the fourth “front”

Before the arrival of businessman Alexander Khanin, Alexander Prokopenko's Kuban Romex group of companies was a permanent “conductor” of Ozon in Tatarstan. Having land assets in the Zelenodolsk district, Romex built the second stage of the Ozon warehouse in this place a year ago. Then its area increased from 23,000 to 43,000 square metres, and the Zelenodolsk centre itself provided the placement of 10 million goods and daily shipment of 200,000 parcels to customers daily with the possibility of increasing the volume to 345,000 pieces.

As Romex Group of Companies reported at the time, investments in the construction of the second stage of the complex amounted to 1.8 billion rubles. With the opening of the centre in Laishevo, Ozon managed to gain a foothold next to the highways: M12 in the west and M7 in the north-west of Tatarstan, and the suburban areas themselves became direct competitors.

But the race of Russian developers did not end there. In July of this year, Romex Group completed the construction of the third stage of the Ozon wholesale distribution centre ahead of schedule and announced the launch of the fourth stage with a total area of 85,000 square metres in Zelenodolsk. According to experts, the total storage area of Ozon in Tatarstan is going to reach 150,000 square metres.

In general, over the past two years, Ozon's logistics infrastructure has more than tripled and today exceeds 3 million square metres. 43 fulfillment centres, more than 150 sorting centres and more than 50,000 order pick-up points already operate in Russia and the CIS countries.

Why “grandfather clause” is not working

By signing an agreement with Ozon on the construction of the first centre, Alexander Khanin's DoorHan concern attempted to insure its development project worth 16.3 billion rubles against the risks of changes in tax rates. As Realnoe Vremya reported, the management company In Park — Kazan PLC submitted an application in the summer to sign an agreement on the protection and promotion of capital investments (SZPK) in order to stabilise the tax burden. The SZPK guarantees the immutability of the income tax rate in case of legislative changes that may worsen the investor's position.

However, the Ministry of Economic Development slowed down the signing of the SZPK with Russian investors, including the Tatarstan applicant In Park — Kazan. According to Yulai Minnullin, the deputy for GR of the management company, the application is being processed by VEB.RF, and the first object will not be able to fall under the action of SZPK. According to him, the agreement on the construction of the warehouse complex was signed well before the application was submitted. Ozon in Laishevo managed to take off without waiting for guarantees under SZPK, while rental rates for the marketplace were approved almost a year ago and lag behind market values, he noted.

In addition, the investor within the framework of SZPK expected to reimburse the costs of infrastructure construction, as well as to pay interest on loans and borrowings in the form of a tax deduction or subsidy at the expense of taxes paid.

“We expect to reimburse 50 percent of the costs in the amount of tax deductions for the supporting infrastructure (within 5 years) and up to 100 percent for the related infrastructure (within 10 years)," said Minnullin earlier. In return, the developer promised to commit to paying a fixed amount of taxes on an increasing basis: in 2026 — about 75 million, and starting from 2027 to 2031 — 1.4-1.7 billion rubles.

In the absence of a “stabilisation clause”, the opportunity to clearly predict the project's future is lost, experts noted. So far, the “grandfather clause” does not apply to the logistics park of the DoorHan Group. The only one who was able to sign the SZPK a few years ago was the WB company. However, the company did not request a tax cashback, and the agreement itself does not apply to its logopark, which is being built in Stolbishche.